The Phoenix metro area is expected to significantly outpace the rest of Arizona when it comes to job growth for the two year period ending in mid-2018.

The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity projects that employment will increase 2.8 percent each year in the metro area, that includes Maricopa and Pinal counties.

That compares with a 1.3 percent increase in the Tucson metro area, and 1.5 in the rest of the state. That's almost double recent Tucson growth, which was 0.7 percent during the previous two year period.

According to projections, the phoenix metro area will account for nearly 83 percent of job growth in the state. That would mean an increase of nearly 140,000 jobs over the two-year period